Max Gill and Michelle D’Artigues join as Principals in Mexico City, continue partnership to grow business line for the region Max Gill and Michelle D’Artigues join as Principals in Mexico City, continue partnership to grow business line for the region Mexico City, MX – Emile Sarraf, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director of the firm’s Mexico City office, today announced the appointment of Max Gill and Michelle D’Artigues as Avison Young Principals. Gill and D’Artigues,…

Amaggi, the Brazilian soybean group owned by entrepreneur-turned-politician Blairo Maggi, is in advanced talks to buy the local unit of Argentina’s El Tejar to capitalize on increasing crop demand from China, people with knowledge of the matter said. The proposed acquisition of O Telhar encompasses all assets in Brazil, including about 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of farming land, cotton mills, warehouses and machinery, one of the people said, asking to not be identified as talks are private. Amaggi declined…

“The ultimate goal of the farm is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.”—Masanobu Fukuoka On July 31, 1951, I was born on a farm in a faraway place called New Zealand. Today I run a Real Estate business in the heart of South America called “Gateway to South America“. For many years, I ran away from my farm-life upbringing because I thought it had no place in this business, but over time, I’ve come to embrace some of my farm-boy ways to a competitive…

The role of the family office has often been misunderstood, even though the concept has been around (in a variety of forms) for hundreds of years. Still today, as this industry controls billions of dollars in assets under management, there are many intelligent, experienced finance professionals who cannot offer a complete definition of what a family office is exactly. Today, the family office industry is expanding at an impressive pace, with new family offices opening every month and assets continuing to…

The agricultural sector undoubtedly has its challenges; the impact of over taxation, increasing input costs, drought, waste, plastics, energy sourcing, labor, over-processing and methane emissions just to name a few. Equally, however, there are also many opportunities. So, what are some of the exciting trends we are seeing in agriculture today? Below I highlight six trends that we have identified, providing interesting insights into the rapid change underway in the sector and the potential investment opportunities…

This translated book begins with a foreword by left-wing writer Isabel Allende, and here is just one quote from her introduction of the book: “His work is a mixture of meticulous detail, political conviction, poetic flair, and good storytelling.” The translation by Cedric Belfrage merits special note. This book sings in English, and the translator has done justice to the original. A major recurring theme throughout the book is that of capital squandered by the few while the many actually producing…

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s approval rating has surged, thanks to an improving economy and his government’s efforts to fight corruption and make Brazil’s cities safer, according to a poll released on Wednesday. The CNT/MDA poll showed Brazilians are more worried about the economy, jobs and public security than controversies that surround Bolsonaro, who had to fire his culture secretary last week for copying Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels in a speech. Reversing a steady decline in popularity in…

A September 2019 report by RethinkX, an independent think tank based in London and San Francisco, predicts major disruption in food and agriculture over the next decade. Rethinking Food and Agriculture 2020-2030, the Second Domestication of Plants and Animals, the Disruption of the Cow, and the Collapse of Industrial Livestock Farming forecasts the wholesale collapse of dairy and cattle industries by 2030 as animal protein production is replaced by “precision fermentation” (also known as synthetic biology…

Farmers’ fields in South America are among the most prized assets in a new global market for agricultural land that has sprung up alongside soaring commodity prices. Private equity and fund managers at a farm investing conference in Geneva named South America a top place to buy, lease and manage agricultural lands for profit. “The South American marketplace is really booming along right now,” said Mark Zenuk, managing director of the $3 billion NGP Global Adaptation Partners fund. Black…

Folha de S.Paulo reported that some Chinese importers are refusing to pay for shipments that already arrived in China, seeking a discount from exporters Chinese beef importers are seeking to renegotiate prices previously agreed when they closed deals to buy dozens of shipments from Brazil and Uruguay because values are too high, according to a report in the online edition of local newspapers on Monday. The website of Folha de S.Paulo reported that some Chinese importers are refusing to pay for shipments that…

My thoughts from 30 yrs in the real estate industry. Tip 1: Contact your broker, don’t wait for them to contact you – Good properties always sell even in a tough market. Your ability to buy the best properties that tick all of your boxes comes down to the relationships you have with the local brokers, so take the lead and make sure they always think of you first when they become aware of that perfect property. Tip 2: Buy when you can afford to buy – You will never get: (1) High growth,…

In recent months Professor Keith Woodford has received many emails asking if he has seen the RethinkX report demonstrating how in ten years’ time animal proteins will have been largely replaced by artificial foods. By 2030, demand for cattle products will supposedly have fallen by 70%. At that time the global grasslands can be returned to nature. This is his response. Then this last week the emailers have been asking if I have seen George Monbiot’s report in The Guardian on how artificial foods…

#1 Demographics First, it’s good to remember that demographics have a life of their own. That’s not good from the point of view of those of us of European descent. We’re only 10% of the world population and falling rapidly. Worse, it seems we’re responsible for all the world’s problems and therefore aren’t very popular. In Europe, I expect the ’20s will have a lot of mass migration, the largest in scale since the barbarian invasions of the fifth century. This time there will be millions, then…

American farmers hit by US-China trade conflict and extreme weather Brazil is racing ahead of the US as the world’s largest soybean producer, as a trade war and extreme weather take a toll on American agriculture. The Latin American country’s newly planted crop is likely to yield 121.1m tonnes of soybeans in early 2020, agricultural agency Conab said on Tuesday. That is 25 per cent more than the just-harvested US crop of 96.6m tonnes. “This is the first time ever, it appears, that we will have a smaller…

So you want to be a farmer in South America. Investing in farmland can make for an intriguing alternative to the stock market. Farmland is safe historically and a great hedge against inflation and is an asset class that does not correlate with the normal stock market. As the world’s population continues to grow (9.15 billion estimates by 2050) and the global middle-class continues to emerge (with changing dietary habits toward more calories and meat), farmland is poised to become an even more intriguing alternative…